Germany: no plans to cut diplomatic ties with North Korea

Berlin plans to stay and continue its diplomatic ties with North Korea, despite US warnings.

Berlin has no current plans to cut its diplomatic ties with North Korea. This is amid Washington's call for Germany and other countries around the world to recall its ambassadors. The Trump Administration's plan is to "shrink the footprint" the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPKR) has in any given country.

Germany believes that their continued presence in North Korea might serve to contribute to a more diplomatic solution for the conflict at hand in the future.

Jürgen Hardt, a member of German Chancelllor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats and the government's coordinator for transatlantic cooperation said, "At the end of the day... a diplomatic solution [will be] necessary for the conflict with North Korea. It's good that the Western world and Europe has not only eyes and ears from China and Russia in Pyongyang, but also from Europe, and therefore the German embassy should be open."

The US, however, clarified that its statement didn't mean total shutdown. "There is no US requirement for Germany to close the German embassy in Pyongyang," German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said in an interview after meeting with US counterpart Rex Tillerson. He also said that closing the embassy is one of the options, but it's not their current goal at the moment.